Development Camp Preview Part 1: Forwards
The Flyers will hold their 2021 Development Camp at the team training center in Voorhees from August 28 to September 1, 2021
There are no current collegiate players in attendance at this year's camp. The reason relates to NCAA rules that pertain to NHL Development Camp attendance.
Additionally, Development Camp attendance eligibility is limited to recently drafted players, signed players on current entry-level contracts and undrafted camp invitees. There are five unaffiliated invitees on this year's camp roster: three forwards and two defensemen.
Here are thumbnail profiles of this year's camp attendees. In Part 1, we'll look at the forwards attending the camp. In Part 2, we'll focus on the defensemen and goaltenders.
Wade Allison (RW):After battling injuries in college hockey, most notably a torn ACL, and preseason ankle surgery in 2020-21, Allison went on to have a promising rookie season for the Phantoms and Flyers. The 23-year-old power forward is in his final Development Camp. Come NHL training camp, he'll be in the mix to compete for an opening-night roster spot with the Flyers.
J.R. (Jon-Randall) Avon (C, camp invitee): A fleet and polished skater, Avon was a highly touted player entering the Ontario Hockey League from the Eastern AAA level. He represented Canada White at the under-17 international level in 2019-20. The pandemic-related cancelation of the 2020-21 OHL season after the early curtailment of the 2019-20 season hurt Avon's chances of being selected in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. Avon, who turned 18 on July 4, is attending Development Camp with the Flyers on an invitational basis. He is the stepson of longtime NHL star Steve Larmer.
Ethan Burroughs (RW, camp invitee):A prolific minor hockey goal scorer at the U16 and U18 AAA levels, Burroughs was a second-round pick in the 2019 OHL Draft. He showed promise as an Ontario Hockey League rookie in 2019-20 but his development was affected by the pandemic-related early end to that season and subsequent cancelation of the 2020-21 campaign. He turned 18 on June 19, 2021 and was not selected in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. Burroughs is not a big-framed player but has good hands, good feet and a reputation for being a hard-working and coachable young player.
Jackson Cates (C): The 23-year-old signed an entry-level contract with the Flyers last season after completing his junior campaign at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.Cates appeared in fourth-line duty in four late-season NHL games with the Flyers after signing with the organization. The older brother of Flyers prospect Noah Cates (who is slated to return to Minnesota Duluth for his senior year in 2021-22), Jackson will turn 24 on Sept 26 while Noah turned 22 back on Feb. 5.
Jackson will compete for an NHL roster spot in training camp in September and is a callup candidate during the 2021-22 season if he starts the regular season in the American Hockey League with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
Elliot Desnoyers (C/LW):A player with advanced two-way abilities for a teenager, Desnoyers also enjoyed a breakout offensive season in the QMJHL last season with Halifax despite COVID-related interruptions to the schedule. Offseason surgery forced him to miss the recent World Junior Summer Showcase for Team Canada but he is expected to be fine for the Flyers' camp.
Tyson Foerster (RW): The Flyers' first-round pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, Foerster battled through injuries last season and more than held his own in the American Hockey League last season with the Phantoms. In 2020-21, Foerster sustained an early-season tibia microfracture and a late-season separated collarbone.
Recently, Foerster tweaked his shoulder in training; a 10-to-14-day injury that was ill-timed because it forced him to miss the World Junior Summer Showcase. However, he should be available for camp and the preseason.
Foerster's skating remains a work in progress. However, his offensive skills are highly advanced for such a young player. He is also an underrated passer, although he's developed a shooter's mentality..
Morgan Frost (C/W): The Flyers' 2017 first-round pick is participating in his final Development Camp before entering the third and final season of his NHL Entry-Level contract. A prolific scorer in the Ontario Hockey League and a standout for Team Canada at the 2018-19 World Junior Championships, Frost played in the American Hockey League All-Star Game as a rookie with the Phantoms in 2019-20. He also scored goals in each of his first two NHL games before struggling with inconsistency over 20 games.
Last season, Frost had a strong training camp and earned an opening-night NHL roster spot with the Flyers. Unfortunately, in the second period of his second game of the 2020-21 season, Frost injured his shoulder and had to undergo season-ending surgery. He is now fully recovered and aims to challenge for a spot on the top nine of the Flyers' forward rotation. The team experimented some with him on wing during last year's abbreviated training camp but Frost remains primarily a center.
Tanner Lacynski (C/W):The 2020-21 season was Laczynski's first in the pros. He underwent pre-season core muscle surgery and then had season-ending hip surgery in late April. In between, Laczynski gave a strong accounting of himself in 14 AHL games with the Phantoms and six NHL games with the Flyers. At the AHL level, he played more of an offensive role and notched six goals (including a hat trick punctuated by a highlight reel between-the-legs goal) while seeing ice time across all game situations. At the NHL level, he held his own in a fourth-line center role with the Flyers.
The 24-year-old is both physically mature and responsible on both sides of the puck. If fully healthy, Laczynski will challenge for an NHL roster spot, either out of training camp or as an in-season recall option.
Owen McLaughlin (C): This will be McLaughlin's first NHL Development Camp. The Chester County native and Valley Forge Minutemen product was ranked 119th among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting before the Flyers grabbed the local product in the seventh round of the 2021 Entry Draft.McLaughlin dressed in 11 total games for the United States National Team Development Program's under-18 squad in 2020-21. He also appeared in 33 prep school level games for Mount St. Charles Academy (16g, 38a).
McLaughlin is committed to Penn State University, starting in 2022-23, and is slated to play the 2021-22 season at the USHL level for SIoux CIty. McLaughlin is a very skilled but raw player.
Connor McClennon (RW): An undersized but highly skilled player at the Western Hockey League level, the Flyers' 2020 sixth-round pick compiled 33 points in 24 games last season during the belated and brief WHL season. Over the last two years, McClennon formed a dynamic one-two offensive punch with his Winnipeg Ice linemate, Peyton Krebs (Vegas Golden Knights 2019 first-round pick). McClennon is a good skater with very good hands. His overall game remains a work in progress and he strives to add strength to his 5-foot-8 frame but there's no question about McClennon's ability to put the puck in the net.
The Winnipeg alternate captain has scored at every level to date including a dominating performance (11 points in five games) for Canada White at the Under-17 World Hockey Championships in 2019.
Issac Ratcliffe (LW): Entering his third pro season, Ratcliffe is participating in his final Development Camp. The 6-foot-6 left winger's offensive progress at the AHL level has been disappointing after a stellar final Ontario Hockey League season for Guelph (50 goals in 65 games during the 2018-19 regular season and then 15 goals in 24 playoff games). However, he progressed as a two-way player and penalty killer under former Phantoms head coach Scott Gordon while largely playing a fourth-line role. Ratcliffe's 2020-21 season was severely set back by injuries.
Due to a pre-camp rib fracture and collapsed lung, hehad a belated start to an already shortened 2020-21 AHL season. When he returned, Ratcliffe never got untracked offensively with just two goals and eight points in 22 games of bottom-six duty. He did score one nifty breakaway goal but had just two goals and eight points in 22 games last season.
Nolan Ritchie (C, camp invitee): A high-energy, pint-sized (5-foot-9. 174-pound) forward who hounds the puck on the forecheck and can play the point on the power play, Ritchie is coming off an offensively productive abbreviated 2020-21 WHL season for the Brandon Wheat Kings (10 goals, 27 points in 24 games). This was a promising development as Ritchie suffered a badly broken leg the previous season, ruining his 2019-20 campaign and causing him to go undrafted. Many pre-Draft projections prior to the 2021 NHL Entry Draft had Ritchie going in the mid-to-late rounds, but he slipped through the cracks.
The Flyers have a strong scouting presence in Brandon. Ritchie's Wheat Kings teammates included Ridly Greig (Ottawa Senators prospect, son of Flyers scout Mark Greig) and Ben McCartney, attended the Flyers 2019 development and rookie camps as an invitee but an injury kept him off the ice at the latter and he was not offered an entry-level contract. McCartney was subsequently drafted by the Arizona Coyotes in the seventh round of the 2020 Entry Draft.
Linus Sandin (RW): The Flyers signed the sturdy two-way forward to a contract as a free agent during the 2020 offseason and extended him this summer for one additional season. Sandin had some injury issues last season with the Phantoms after beginning the season in Sweden's SHL with HV71 Jönköping (four goals, 10 points in 20 games). After a slow start, Sandin began to settle in with Lehigh Valley (six goals, 10 points in 24 games). He had a brief recall to the Flyers' Taxi Squad but did not dress in any NHL games. The 25-year-old is vying to become an NHL call-up candidate.
Matthew Strome (LW): Entering the third season of his NHL entry-level contract, the 22-year-old Strome is participating in his final Development Camp. He has split the first two seasons of his pro career to date between the AHL and the ECHL. Strome had a brief recall to the Flyers' Taxi Squad in February 2021, in part because he needed practice reps and in part because the organization had numerous COVID-19 cases at the time between the Flyers and Phantoms' rosters. The 2021-22 season will be a vital one for Strome if he is to establish himself as an AHL regular. Skating has always been the biggest question mark in Strome's game.
Maksim Sushko (RW): Entering his third pro season and the final year of his entry-level contract, Sushko is coming off a somewhat disappointing 2020-21 campaign. On the positive side, he made his NHL debut with the Flyers in February and dressed in two games. But he struggled in his brief time in the NHL and also was limited to nine AHL games for the Phantoms (zero points). Injuries and health played a part. He started the 2020-21 season in the KHL with Dinamo Minsk and did not quite meet up to expectations; although, in fairness, a COVID-19 outbreak on his team likely set the player back after his return.
Sushko had a promising 2019-20 rookie season with the Phantoms, moving around the lineup and showing two-way upside including 11 goals and 21 points. The player is aiming for a bounceback season in 2021-22.
Samu Tuomaala (RW): The Flyers' second-round pick (46th overall) in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft has two outstanding traits that cannot be taught: soft hands and fleet feet. The organization recently signed the 18-year-old Finn to an entry-level contract. He could play in 2021-22 either in Finland's Liiga for Kärpät Oulu or in the Ontario Hockey League for the Sudbury Wolves (who recently selected Tuomaala in the CHL Import Draft). Technically, Tuomaala could also play in the American Hockey League in 2021-22 and have the contract fall under the Slide Rule (meaning that it would not burn the first year of his entry-level contract). However, with only five games of Liiga experience under his belt, and limited ice time in those games, an intermediate step may be in order first.
Tuomaala still needs to add strength to his small frame (5-foot-10, 176 pounds) and improve his two-way game. He tore up the 2021 Under-18 World Championships in Frisco, TX, for Team Finland (five goals and 11 points in seven games) to earn tournament all-star honors.
Zayde Wisdom (RW):Wisdom recently underwent shoulder surgery and will be out indefinitely. However, he is on the Development Camp roster and could participate in off-ice portions of camp as other injured Flyers prospects have done in the past. The teenager got off to a scorching hot offensive start in the American Hockey League with the Phantoms in 2020-21. Although he eventually cooled off in the goal-scoring department, Wisdom's tenacity on the forecheck and near the net made him an effective player even as an AHL rookie. Impossible to intimidate, Wisdom mixed it up with opponents and got under the skin of other team's players. He turned 19 on July 7.
The relaxation of the CHL/AHL age rule in 2021-22 for players who spent the 2020-21 campaign in the American League should allow for Foerster and Wisdom (after he completes his post-surgery rehab and is eventually cleared to play) to return to the Phantoms rather than going back to the Ontario League. Their contracts would once again be slide-rule eligible at the AHL level.
